Saffron Hill is a street and ward in the south eastern corner of the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St ...

, between Farringdon Road and

Hatton Garden Hatton Garden is a street and commercial zone in the Holborn district of the London Borough of Camden, abutting the narrow precinct of Saffron Hill which then abuts the City of London. It takes its name from Sir Christopher Hatton, a favouri ...

. The name of the street derives from the fact that it was at one time part of an estate on which

saffron Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent i ...

grew. The

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest ...

was St Peter, Saffron Hill, a daughter parish of Holborn, which is now combined with St Alban (the Martyr), Holborn. In 1850, it was described as a squalid neighbourhood, the home of paupers and thieves. In

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

's novel ''

Oliver Twist ''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...

'' (1837), the

Artful Dodger Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, is a character in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist''. The Dodger is a pickpocket, so called for his skill and cunning in that occupation. He is the leader of the gang of child criminals ...

leads Oliver to

Fagin Fagin is a fictional character and the secondary antagonist in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist''. In the preface to the novel, he is described as a "receiver of stolen goods". He is the leader of a group of children (the Artful Dod ...

's den in Field Lane, the southern extension of Saffron Hill: "a dirty and more wretched place he

liver The liver is a major Organ (anatomy), organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for ...

had never seen. The street was very narrow and muddy, and the air was impregnated with filthy odours".

Little Italy

Saffron Hill is mentioned in the

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

story ''The Adventure of the Six Napoleons'', as the Italian Quarter where the Venucci family can be found. The area still retains a local nomenclature of ''Little Italy''. Annually On the nearest Sunday to July 16 the procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel takes place, a Roman Catholic manifestation of faith starting from St Peter's RC Church on Clerkenwell Road. It was from Saffron Hill that Darby Sabini operated his criminal gangs in the 1920s and 30sMcDonald Brian, Gangs of London, Milo Books (2010) Saffron Hill formed part of the

liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, Ely Rents and Ely Place Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, Ely Rents and Ely Place was a liberty and from 1866 to 1930 a civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, England. It was part of the ancient parish of St Andrew Holborn. The southern boundary was the street no ...

which became part of the

County of London The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government A ...

in 1889. It was abolished in 1900 and formed part of the

Metropolitan Borough of Holborn The Metropolitan Borough of Holborn was a metropolitan borough in the County of London between 1900 and 1965, when it was amalgamated with the Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras and the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead to form the London Boroug ...

until 1965. Saffron Hill has become more residential in recent years with the building of several blocks of 'luxury' apartments, including Da Vinci House situated in the former "Punch magazine" printworks and the architecturally distinctive Ziggurat Building.

References

External links

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Photographs of Saffron Hill
Areas of London Streets in the London Borough of Camden Former slums of London {{London-road-stub